Electronic device for displaying security image, and method for operating same

ABSTRACT

An electronic device includes a display and a processor. The processor receives a display request for images including a first image, identifies one or more objects included in the first image, based on the one or more objects including a security object, determine a replaced image to replace the first image based on the one or more objects included in the first image, and control the display to display the replaced image corresponding to the first image together with one or more other images distinct from the first image, among the images, that does not include a security object.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of InternationalApplication No. PCT/KR2021/020158, filed on Dec. 29, 2021, in the KoreanIntellectual Property Office, which is based on and claims priority toKorean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0023496, filed on Feb. 22, 2021,the disclosures of each of which being incorporated by reference hereinin their entireties.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

The disclosure relates to an electronic device for displaying a securityimage and a method for operating the same.

2. Description of Related Art

A portable electronic device (e.g., a mobile phone) may have storedthereon a plurality of images and videos. The portable electronic devicemay have an application that may be executed to display the variousimages and videos. Among the images and videos, there may be an imageand/or video that contains security information that a user of theportable electronic device does not wish to show publicly to otherpeople who may be in the vicinity of the portable electronic device.

SUMMARY

In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, an electronic device mayinclude a display; and a processor configured to receive a displayrequest for a plurality of images comprising a first image; identify atleast one object included in the first image; based on the at least oneobject comprising at least one security object, determine a replacedimage to replace the first image based on the at least one objectincluded in the first image; and control the display to display thereplaced image corresponding to the first image together with at leastone other image distinct from the first image, among the plurality ofimages, that does not include a security object.

In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, an electronicdevice may include a display; and a processor configured to receive adisplay request for a plurality of images comprising a first image;identify at least one object included in the first image; based on theat least one object comprising at least one security object, determine areplaced image to replace the first image based on the at least oneobject included in the first image; identify state information of theelectronic device; control the display to display at least one otherimage distinct from the first image, among the plurality of images, thatdoes not comprise a security object; and based on the state informationindicating the electronic device is not in a safe zone state, controlthe display to display the replaced image corresponding to the firstimage together with the at least one other image.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the disclosure, a method ofoperating an electronic device may include identifying a display requestfor a plurality of images comprising a first image; identifying at leastone object included in the first image; based on the at least one objectcomprising at least one security object, determining a replaced image toreplace the first image based on the at least one object included in thefirst image; and displaying, through a display of the electronic device,the replaced image corresponding to the first image together with the atleast one other image distinct from the first image, among the pluralityof images, that does not comprises a security object.

Additional aspects will be set forth in part in the description whichfollows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may belearned by practice of the presented embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certainembodiments of the present disclosure will be more apparent from thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic device in a networkenvironment according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3A is a diagram illustrating an operation of an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating an operation of an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an operation of an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an operation of an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a state of an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an operation of an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an operation of an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an operation of an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an operation of an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an operation of an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment;

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an operation of an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment;

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment;

FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an operation of an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment;

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment;

FIG. 25 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment;

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating an operation of an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 27 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment;

FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating an operation of an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 29 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment;

FIG. 30 is a diagram illustrating an operation of an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating an operation of an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 32 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment;

FIG. 33 is a diagram illustrating an operation of an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 34 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment; and

FIG. 35 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

When browsing images using, for example, a gallery application executedin a portable electronic device (e.g., a mobile phone), a next image(e.g., a second image) may be displayed according to a user input (e.g.,a touch input of swiping a screen from right to left) while a specificimage (e.g., a first image) is being displayed on a display of theportable electronic device.

In the case where a user is not aware of information about an image tobe displayed next, an image containing security information may beunintentionally displayed. If the user is viewing the correspondingportable electronic device with other people, the user may exposesensitive security information to others.

Therefore, it is advantageous to prevent security content (e.g., animage including security information) stored in the portable electronicdevice from being displayed on the display of the portable electronicdevice, regardless of the intention of the user of the portableelectronic device.

According to various embodiments, an electronic device may include adisplay and a processor, wherein the processor may be configured toidentify a display request for a plurality of images including a firstimage, identify at least one object included in the first image,determine, based on the case where the first image includes at least onesecurity object, to display a replaced image determined based on the atleast one object included in the first image, determine, based on thecase where at least one other image that is distinct from the firstimage, among the plurality of images, does not include a securityobject, to display the at least one other image, and control the displayto display the replaced image corresponding to the first image togetherwith the at least one other image.

According to various embodiments, a method of operating an electronicdevice may include identifying a display request for a plurality ofimages including a first image, identifying at least one object includedin the first image, determining, based on the case where the first imageincludes at least one security object, to display a replaced imagedetermined based on the at least one object included in the first image,determine, based on the case where at least one other image that isdistinct from the first image, among the plurality of images, does notinclude a security object, to display the at least one other image, anddisplaying the replaced image corresponding to the first image togetherwith the at least one other image through a display of the electronicdevice.

According to various embodiments, an electronic device for displaying asecurity image and a method of operating the same may be provided inwhich it is possible to prevent a user from unintentionally disclosingsecurity information to others by providing a method of displaying asecurity image on a display of an electronic device.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device 101 in anetwork environment 100 according to various embodiments. Referring toFIG. 1 , the electronic device 101 in the network environment 100 maycommunicate with an electronic device 102 via a first network 198 (e.g.,a short-range wireless communication network), or at least one of anelectronic device 104 or a server 108 via a second network 199 (e.g., along-range wireless communication network). According to an embodiment,the electronic device 101 may communicate with the electronic device 104via the server 108. According to an embodiment, the electronic device101 may include a processor 120, memory 130, an input module 150, asound output module 155, a display module 160, an audio module 170, asensor module 176, an interface 177, a connecting terminal 178, a hapticmodule 179, a camera module 180, a power management module 188, abattery 189, a communication module 190, a subscriber identificationmodule (SIM) 196, or an antenna module 197. In some embodiments, atleast one of the components (e.g., the connecting terminal 178) may beomitted from the electronic device 101, or one or more other componentsmay be added in the electronic device 101. In some embodiments, some ofthe components (e.g., the sensor module 176, the camera module 180, orthe antenna module 197) may be implemented as a single component (e.g.,the display module 160).

The processor 120 may execute, for example, software (e.g., a program140) to control at least one other component (e.g., a hardware orsoftware component) of the electronic device 101 coupled with theprocessor 120, and may perform various data processing or computation.According to one embodiment, as at least part of the data processing orcomputation, the processor 120 may store a command or data received fromanother component (e.g., the sensor module 176 or the communicationmodule 190) in volatile memory 132, process the command or the datastored in the volatile memory 132, and store resulting data innon-volatile memory 134. According to an embodiment, the processor 120may include a main processor 121 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU)or an application processor (AP)), or an auxiliary processor 123 (e.g.,a graphics processing unit (GPU), a neural processing unit (NPU), animage signal processor (ISP), a sensor hub processor, or a communicationprocessor (CP)) that is operable independently from, or in conjunctionwith, the main processor 121. For example, when the electronic device101 includes the main processor 121 and the auxiliary processor 123, theauxiliary processor 123 may be adapted to consume less power than themain processor 121, or to be specific to a specified function. Theauxiliary processor 123 may be implemented as separate from, or as partof the main processor 121.

The auxiliary processor 123 may control at least some of functions orstates related to at least one component (e.g., the display module 160,the sensor module 176, or the communication module 190) among thecomponents of the electronic device 101, instead of the main processor121 while the main processor 121 is in an inactive (e.g., sleep) state,or together with the main processor 121 while the main processor 121 isin an active state (e.g., executing an application). According to anembodiment, the auxiliary processor 123 (e.g., an image signal processoror a communication processor) may be implemented as part of anothercomponent (e.g., the camera module 180 or the communication module 190)functionally related to the auxiliary processor 123. According to anembodiment, the auxiliary processor 123 (e.g., the neural processingunit) may include a hardware structure specified for artificialintelligence model processing. An artificial intelligence model may begenerated by machine learning. Such learning may be performed, e.g., bythe electronic device 101 where the artificial intelligence is performedor via a separate server (e.g., the server 108). Learning algorithms mayinclude, but are not limited to, e.g., supervised learning, unsupervisedlearning, semi-supervised learning, or reinforcement learning. Theartificial intelligence model may include a plurality of artificialneural network layers. The artificial neural network may be a deepneural network (DNN), a convolutional neural network (CNN), a recurrentneural network (RNN), a restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM), a deepbelief network (DBN), a bidirectional recurrent deep neural network(BRDNN), deep Q-network or a combination of two or more thereof but isnot limited thereto. The artificial intelligence model may, additionallyor alternatively, include a software structure other than the hardwarestructure.

The memory 130 may store various data used by at least one component(e.g., the processor 120 or the sensor module 176) of the electronicdevice 101. The various data may include, for example, software (e.g.,the program 140) and input data or output data for a command relatedthereto. The memory 130 may include the volatile memory 132 or thenon-volatile memory 134.

The program 140 may be stored in the memory 130 as software, and mayinclude, for example, an operating system (OS) 142, middleware 144, oran application 146.

The input module 150 may receive a command or data to be used by anothercomponent (e.g., the processor 120) of the electronic device 101, fromthe outside (e.g., a user) of the electronic device 101. The inputmodule 150 may include, for example, a microphone, a mouse, a keyboard,a key (e.g., a button), or a digital pen (e.g., a stylus pen).

The sound output module 155 may output sound signals to the outside ofthe electronic device 101. The sound output module 155 may include, forexample, a speaker or a receiver. The speaker may be used for generalpurposes, such as playing multimedia or playing record. The receiver maybe used for receiving incoming calls. According to an embodiment, thereceiver may be implemented as separate from, or as part of the speaker.

The display module 160 may visually provide information to the outside(e.g., a user) of the electronic device 101. The display module 160 mayinclude, for example, a display, a hologram device, or a projector andcontrol circuitry to control a corresponding one of the display,hologram device, and projector. According to an embodiment, the displaymodule 160 may include a touch sensor adapted to detect a touch, or apressure sensor adapted to measure the intensity of force incurred bythe touch.

The audio module 170 may convert a sound into an electrical signal andvice versa. According to an embodiment, the audio module 170 may obtainthe sound via the input module 150, or output the sound via the soundoutput module 155 or a headphone of an external electronic device (e.g.,an electronic device 102) directly (e.g., wiredly) or wirelessly coupledwith the electronic device 101.

The sensor module 176 may detect an operational state (e.g., power ortemperature) of the electronic device 101 or an environmental state(e.g., a state of a user) external to the electronic device 101, andthen generate an electrical signal or data value corresponding to thedetected state. According to an embodiment, the sensor module 176 mayinclude, for example, a gesture sensor, a gyro sensor, an atmosphericpressure sensor, a magnetic sensor, an acceleration sensor, a gripsensor, a proximity sensor, a color sensor, an infrared (IR) sensor, abiometric sensor, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, or anilluminance sensor.

The interface 177 may support one or more specified protocols to be usedfor the electronic device 101 to be coupled with the external electronicdevice (e.g., the electronic device 102) directly (e.g., wiredly) orwirelessly. According to an embodiment, the interface 177 may include,for example, a high definition multimedia interface (HDMI), a universalserial bus (USB) interface, a secure digital (SD) card interface, or anaudio interface.

A connecting terminal 178 may include a connector via which theelectronic device 101 may be physically connected with the externalelectronic device (e.g., the electronic device 102). According to anembodiment, the connecting terminal 178 may include, for example, a HDMIconnector, a USB connector, a SD card connector, or an audio connector(e.g., a headphone connector).

The haptic module 179 may convert an electrical signal into a mechanicalstimulus (e.g., a vibration or a movement) or electrical stimulus whichmay be recognized by a user via his tactile sensation or kinestheticsensation. According to an embodiment, the haptic module 179 mayinclude, for example, a motor, a piezoelectric element, or an electricstimulator.

The camera module 180 may capture a still image or moving images.According to an embodiment, the camera module 180 may include one ormore lenses, image sensors, image signal processors, or flashes.

The power management module 188 may manage power supplied to theelectronic device 101. According to one embodiment, the power managementmodule 188 may be implemented as at least part of, for example, a powermanagement integrated circuit (PMIC).

The battery 189 may supply power to at least one component of theelectronic device 101. According to an embodiment, the battery 189 mayinclude, for example, a primary cell which is not rechargeable, asecondary cell which is rechargeable, or a fuel cell.

The communication module 190 may support establishing a direct (e.g.,wired) communication channel or a wireless communication channel betweenthe electronic device 101 and the external electronic device (e.g., theelectronic device 102, the electronic device 104, or the server 108) andperforming communication via the established communication channel. Thecommunication module 190 may include one or more communicationprocessors that are operable independently from the processor 120 (e.g.,the application processor (AP)) and supports a direct (e.g., wired)communication or a wireless communication. According to an embodiment,the communication module 190 may include a wireless communication module192 (e.g., a cellular communication module, a short-range wirelesscommunication module, or a global navigation satellite system (GNSS)communication module) or a wired communication module 194 (e.g., a localarea network (LAN) communication module or a power line communication(PLC) module). A corresponding one of these communication modules maycommunicate with the external electronic device via the first network198 (e.g., a short-range communication network, such as Bluetooth™,wireless-fidelity (Wi-Fi) direct, or infrared data association (IrDA))or the second network 199 (e.g., a long-range communication network,such as a legacy cellular network, a 5G network, a next-generationcommunication network, the Internet, or a computer network (e.g., LAN orwide area network (WAN)). These various types of communication modulesmay be implemented as a single component (e.g., a single chip), or maybe implemented as multi components (e.g., multi chips) separate fromeach other. The wireless communication module 192 may identify andauthenticate the electronic device 101 in a communication network, suchas the first network 198 or the second network 199, using subscriberinformation (e.g., international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI))stored in the subscriber identification module 196.

The wireless communication module 192 may support a 5G network, after a4G network, and next-generation communication technology, e.g., newradio (NR) access technology. The NR access technology may supportenhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine type communications(mMTC), or ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC). Thewireless communication module 192 may support a high-frequency band(e.g., the mmWave band) to achieve, e.g., a high data transmission rate.The wireless communication module 192 may support various technologiesfor securing performance on a high-frequency band, such as, e.g.,beamforming, massive multiple-input and multiple-output (massive MIMO),full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, analog beam-forming, orlarge scale antenna. The wireless communication module 192 may supportvarious requirements specified in the electronic device 101, an externalelectronic device (e.g., the electronic device 104), or a network system(e.g., the second network 199). According to an embodiment, the wirelesscommunication module 192 may support a peak data rate (e.g., 20 Gbps ormore) for implementing eMBB, loss coverage (e.g., 164 dB or less) forimplementing mMTC, or U-plane latency (e.g., 0.5 ms or less for each ofdownlink (DL) and uplink (UL), or a round trip of lms or less) forimplementing URLLC.

The antenna module 197 may transmit or receive a signal or power to orfrom the outside (e.g., the external electronic device) of theelectronic device 101. According to an embodiment, the antenna module197 may include an antenna including a radiating element composed of aconductive material or a conductive pattern formed in or on a substrate(e.g., a printed circuit board (PCB)). According to an embodiment, theantenna module 197 may include a plurality of antennas (e.g., arrayantennas). In such a case, at least one antenna appropriate for acommunication scheme used in the communication network, such as thefirst network 198 or the second network 199, may be selected, forexample, by the communication module 190 (e.g., the wirelesscommunication module 192) from the plurality of antennas. The signal orthe power may then be transmitted or received between the communicationmodule 190 and the external electronic device via the selected at leastone antenna. According to an embodiment, another component (e.g., aradio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC)) other than the radiatingelement may be additionally formed as part of the antenna module 197.

According to various embodiments, the antenna module 197 may form ammWave antenna module. According to an embodiment, the mmWave antennamodule may include a printed circuit board, a RFIC disposed on a firstsurface (e.g., the bottom surface) of the printed circuit board, oradjacent to the first surface and capable of supporting a designatedhigh-frequency band (e.g., the mmWave band), and a plurality of antennas(e.g., array antennas) disposed on a second surface (e.g., the top or aside surface) of the printed circuit board, or adjacent to the secondsurface and capable of transmitting or receiving signals of thedesignated high-frequency band.

At least some of the above-described components may be coupled mutuallyand communicate signals (e.g., commands or data) therebetween via aninter-peripheral communication scheme (e.g., a bus, general purposeinput and output (GPIO), serial peripheral interface (SPI), or mobileindustry processor interface (MIPI)).

According to an embodiment, commands or data may be transmitted orreceived between the electronic device 101 and the external electronicdevice 104 via the server 108 coupled with the second network 199. Eachof the electronic devices 102 or 104 may be a device of a same type as,or a different type, from the electronic device 101. According to anembodiment, all or some of operations to be executed at the electronicdevice 101 may be executed at one or more of the external electronicdevices 102, 104, or 108. For example, if the electronic device 101should perform a function or a service automatically, or in response toa request from a user or another device, the electronic device 101,instead of, or in addition to, executing the function or the service,may request the one or more external electronic devices to perform atleast part of the function or the service. The one or more externalelectronic devices receiving the request may perform the at least partof the function or the service requested, or an additional function oran additional service related to the request, and transfer an outcome ofthe performing to the electronic device 101. The electronic device 101may provide the outcome, with or without further processing of theoutcome, as at least part of a reply to the request. To that end, acloud computing, distributed computing, mobile edge computing (MEC), orclient-server computing technology may be used, for example. Theelectronic device 101 may provide ultra low-latency services using,e.g., distributed computing or mobile edge computing. In anotherembodiment, the external electronic device 104 may include aninternet-of-things (IoT) device. The server 108 may be an intelligentserver using machine learning and/or a neural network. According to anembodiment, the external electronic device 104 or the server 108 may beincluded in the second network 199. The electronic device 101 may beapplied to intelligent services (e.g., smart home, smart city, smartcar, or healthcare) based on 5G communication technology or IoT-relatedtechnology.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 will be described withreference to FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 4 . FIG. 3A is a diagram illustrating anoperation of an electronic device according to an embodiment. FIG. 3B isa diagram illustrating an operation of an electronic device according toan embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an operation of anelectronic device according to an embodiment. An electronic device 101(e.g., a processor 120 of the electronic device 101) may display animage through a display module 160.

Referring to FIG. 2 , in operation 201, according to an embodiment, theelectronic device 101 (e.g., the processor 120 of the electronic device101) may identify at least one object included in an image. Theelectronic device 101 may identify characteristics of at least oneobject included in the image and determine a type of the image, based onthe identified characteristics of the at least one object. For example,the object included in the image may indicate an object representing aface, a body, body posture, sea, a tree, paper, a document, a characterstring, a resident registration number, a passport number, a flightnumber, or an account number, but is not specifically limited. Theelectronic device 101 may store identification models for identifyingthe above-described various types of objects, and the types of modelsare not specifically limited. For example, the characteristics of anobject may indicate the various types of objects (e.g., a face, a body,a document, and a character string) described above or indicate contentof an object (e.g., whether the object is a smiling face or a cryingface, whether the object is a person wearing clothes or a person notwearing clothes, whether the object is a contract document or a generaldocument, and/or whether the object is a sequence of meaningful numbers(and/or letters), such as a resident registration number or a passportnumber, or a sequence of random numbers (and/or letters). For example,the type of image may be a people type, an identification card type, afinancial document type, or a landscape type, but is not specificallylimited. According to an embodiment, the electronic device 101 maydetermine characteristics of objects included in the image and determinethe number of objects having similar characteristics. For example, theelectronic device 101 may identify people included in the image and,based on the fact that there are three objects representing people,identify that the image is a people type image including three people.In some embodiments, for example, the electronic device 101 may identifya combination of numbers included in the image and, based on theidentified combination of numbers, identify that a corresponding objectrepresents a mobile phone number. In some embodiments, the electronicdevice 101 may identify an object representing a mobile phone number andidentify that the mobile phone number indicated by the identified objectis the mobile phone number of the user of the electronic device 101 orthe mobile phone number of someone other than the user of the electronicdevice 101. In some embodiments, for example, the electronic device 101may identify that the object included in the image is an objectrepresenting paper and identify that another object included in theimage is a character string written on the paper. In some embodiments,the electronic device 101 may perform text recognition. At this time,the type of the image may be identified as a financial document, basedon the characteristics of the identified character string (e.g.,recognition results and/or analysis results). In some embodiments, forexample, the electronic device 101 may identify a face and a firstcharacter string included in a first image and determine the first imageto be an identification card, based on identifying that the firstcharacter string is a resident registration number. In some embodiments,the electronic device 101 may identify a face and a second characterstring included in a second image and determine the second image to be apassport, based on identifying that the second character string is apassport number. For example, the electronic device 101 may determinethe first image to be an identification card or determine the secondimage to be a passport, based on a relative positional relationshipbetween the image and the character string. In some embodiments, theelectronic device 101 may determine the first image and/or the secondimage as an ID type image.

In operation 203, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may determine whether or not to display the image, based on an analysisresult of at least one object included in the image. The electronicdevice 101 may determine whether or not to display the image, based onwhether or not the image includes an object subject to security.Determining whether or not to display an image may indicate determiningwhether or not to display an object subject to security, which isincluded in the image, or determining whether or not to display an imageitself including an object subject to security. For example, theelectronic device 101 may identify that the first image is apassport-type image, based on identifying that a character string objectincluded in the first image represents a passport number. In this case,the electronic device 101 may determine whether or not to display theobject representing the passport number included in the first image ordetermine whether or not to display the first image itself including theobject representing the passport number.

In operation 205, according to an embodiment, in response to determiningnot to display the image, the electronic device 101 may display areplaced image identified based on a result of analyzing at least oneobject included in the image.

Although not illustrated in FIG. 2 , referring to FIG. 16 and/or FIG. 23described later, according to an embodiment, after a replaced image isdisplayed, the electronic device 101, in response to a display requestfor the image (e.g., an original image), may stop displaying thereplaced image and display the image (e.g., the original image).

Displaying the replaced image will be described with reference to FIGS.3A and 3B.

According to an embodiment, if the electronic device 101 determines notto display at least one object included in the image (e.g., the firstimage), the replaced image may be an image in which at least one areacorresponding to at least a portion of at least one object included inthe image (e.g., the first image) is modulated and in which theremaining areas are not modulated.

For example, referring to (a) and (b) in FIG. 3A, the electronic device101 may determine not to display at least one object subject to securityin a first image of a passport type and display a replaced image 301 or311 identified based on an analysis result of at least one objectincluded in the first image. For example, the electronic device 101 mayidentify that a first object is a person's face, that a second object isa person's name, that a third object is a passport number, that a fourthobject is a passport issuance date, and that a fifth object is acomprehensive information of a passport holder, among the objectsincluded in the first image. According to an embodiment, referring to(a) in FIG. 3A, the electronic device 101 may display a first areacorresponding to the first object representing the person's face as anoriginal image, image-process (e.g., blur or highlight) and display asecond area 302 corresponding to the second object representing theperson's name, image-process (e.g., blur or highlight) and display athird area 303 corresponding to the third object representing thepassport number, display a fourth area corresponding to the fourthobject representing the passport issuance date as an original image, andimage-process (e.g., blur or highlight) and display a fifth area 304corresponding to the fifth object representing the comprehensiveinformation of a passport holder in the replaced image 301. In someembodiments, referring to (b) in FIG. 3A, the electronic device 101 maydisplay a first area corresponding to the first object representing theperson's face as an original image, display a character string randomlyselected or randomly disposed, regardless of the information included inthe original image, on the second area 312 corresponding to the secondobject representing the person's name, display a character stringrandomly selected or randomly disposed regardless of the informationincluded in the original image on the third area 313 corresponding tothe third object representing the passport number, display the fourtharea corresponding to the fourth object representing the passportissuance date as an original image, and display a character stringrandomly selected or randomly disposed, regardless of the informationincluded in the original image, on the fifth area 314 corresponding tothe fifth object representing the comprehensive information of apassport holder in the replaced image 311.

According to an embodiment, referring to (a) in FIG. 3A, the electronicdevice 101 may display an object (e.g., the object 305) representing thetype of image together with a replaced image (e.g., the replaced image301). In some embodiments, the electronic device 101 may display areplaced image (e.g., the replaced image 301) including an object (e.g.,the object 305) representing the type of image. For example, referringto (a) in FIG. 3A, the electronic device 101 may display an object 305representing a passport (or ID card) type image together with thereplaced image 301 (or the replaced image 301 including an object 305representing a passport (or ID card) type image). The objectrepresenting the type of image may be selected from among pre-configuredimages or may be an image specified by a user, but is not specificallylimited.

According to an embodiment, referring to (b) in FIG. 3A, the electronicdevice 101 display an object (e.g., the object 315) representing thetype of image and an object (e.g., the object 316) representing amodulation method of a corresponding image together with a replacedimage (e.g., the replaced image 311). In some embodiments, theelectronic device 101 may display a replaced image (e.g., the replacedimage 311) including an object (e.g., the object 315) representing thetype of image and an object (e.g., the object 316) representing amodulation method of a corresponding image. For example, in (b) of FIG.3A, the object 316 representing the modulated method of a correspondingimage may be an object representing that at least one object included inthe image is modulated using a character string randomly selected orrandomly disposed, regardless of information included in the originalimage.

According to an embodiment, when the electronic device 101 determinesnot to display an image (e.g., the first image) itself, the replacedimage may be an image selected from among the pre-configured images,based on the type of the first image identified according to an analysisresult of at least one object included in the first image. For example,the pre-configured image may be an image including an objectrepresenting the type of image. In some embodiments, the pre-configuredimage may be an image previously specified by a user but is notspecifically limited.

For example, referring to (c) in FIG. 3A, the electronic device 101 maydetermine not to display the first image of a passport type itself and,based on the type (e.g., a passport type) of the first image, display areplaced image 321 including an object 322 representing a passport type(or ID type), among the pre-configured images.

According to an embodiment, if the electronic device 101 determines notto display an image (e.g., the first image) itself, the replaced imagemay be an image in which the entire area of the first image wasimage-processed (e.g., subjected to blurring or highlighting).

For example, referring to (a) in FIG. 3B, the electronic device 101 maydetermine not to display the first image of a passport-type itself anddisplay a replaced image 331 in which the entire area of the first imagewas image-processed (e.g., blur or highlight). In some embodiments, theelectronic device 101 may display an object 332 representing the type ofimage together with the replaced image 331.

According to an embodiment, referring to (a), (b), and (c) in FIG. 3B,the electronic device 101 may display an object (e.g., 333, 343, or 353)representing the number of allowable accesses to an original imagecorresponding to a displayed replaced image together with a replacedimage (e.g., 331, 341, or 351). In some embodiments, the electronicdevice 101 may display a replaced image (e.g., 331, 341, or 351)including an object (e.g., 333, 343, or 353) representing the number ofallowable accesses to an original image corresponding to the displayedreplaced image. For example, the electronic device 101 may display anoriginal image corresponding to the replaced image at a user's request.At this time, after displaying an original image corresponding to thedisplayed replaced image as many times as the object (e.g., 333, 343, or353) representing the number of allowable accesses to the original imageindicates, the electronic device 101 may no longer display the originalimage despite a user's request.

For example, the number (e.g., 12) included in the object 333 in (a) ofFIG. 3B may indicate that the number of allowable accesses to theoriginal image corresponding to the replaced image 331 is 12. In someembodiments, for example, the number (e.g., 5) included in the object343 in (b) of FIG. 3B may indicate that the number of allowable accessesto the original image corresponding to the replaced image 341 is 5. Insome embodiments, for example, the number (e.g., 3) included in theobject 353 in (c) of FIG. 3B may indicate that the number of allowableaccesses to the original image corresponding to the replaced image 351is 3.

According to an embodiment, referring to (a) and (b) in FIG. 3B, theelectronic device 101, based on the number of allowable accesses to theoriginal image corresponding to the replaced image (e.g., 331 or 341),may determine the degree of image-processing for the entire area of theoriginal image and display a replaced image that is image-processedbased on the determined degree of image-processing. The degree ofimage-processing may indicate the degree to which the original image canbe recognized, and for example, in the case of performing blurringduring the image-processing, degree of image-processing may indicatethat the higher the degree of blurring (e.g., 80% greater than 60%), themore difficult it is to recognize the original image.

For example, in (a) of FIG. 3B, the electronic device 101 may determinethe degree of image-processing (e.g., blurring 60%) of the entire areaof the original image, based on the number of allowable accesses (e.g.,12) to the original image, and display an image-processed replaced image331. In some embodiments, for example, in (b) of FIG. 3B, the electronicdevice 101 may determine the degree of image-processing (e.g., blurring80%) of the entire area of the original image, based on the number ofallowable accesses (e.g., 5) to the original image, and display animage-processed replaced image 341. At this time, as shown in (a) and(b) of FIG. 3B, if the number of allowable accesses to the originalimage is lower, it may be more difficult to recognize the original imagethrough the displayed replaced image, but this configuration is merelyexemplary and is not specifically limited.

Displaying the replaced image will continue to be described withreference to FIG. 4 .

According to an embodiment, referring to (a) in FIG. 4 , the electronicdevice 101 (e.g., the processor 120) may display, on the display module160, a replaced image (e.g., 411) obtained by image-processing (e.g.,blurring or highlighting) so as not to recognize the original of an area(e.g., 412) corresponding to at least one object included in an image.For example, referring to (a) in FIG. 4 , the electronic device 101 mayimage-process an area 412 corresponding to people included in the imageto display an image-processed replaced image 411 in which the originalimage of the area 412 corresponding to the people is unrecognizable butin which the contour of the area 412 corresponding to the people isrecognizable.

According to an embodiment, referring to (b) and (c) in FIG. 4 , theelectronic device 101 may display, on the display module 160, a replacedimage (e.g., 421 or 431) obtained by image-processing an area (e.g., 422or 432) corresponding to at least one object included in the image,based on a degree of image-processing. The degree of image-processingmay be predetermined. For example, referring to (b) in FIG. 4 , theelectronic device 101 may image-process the area 422 (e.g., blurring70%) corresponding to the people included in the image, based on thedegree of image-processing, thereby displaying an image-processedreplaced image 421 in which the original image of the area 422corresponding to the people cannot be exactly recognized but in whichthe contour of the area 422 and the lines or colors included in the area422 can be recognized In some embodiments, for example, referring to (c)in FIG. 4 , the electronic device 101 may image-process the area 432(e.g., blur the area 50% and modulate the features of the peopleincluded in the area 432) corresponding to the people included in theimage, based on the degree of image-processing, thereby displaying animage-processed replaced image 421 in which the original image of thearea 432 corresponding to the people cannot be accurately recognized butin which the contour of the area 432 and most of the appearances of thepeople included in the area 432, excluding the features thereof, can berecognized. The degree of image-processing is merely exemplary, and thedegree of image-processing is not limited.

According to an embodiment, referring to (d) in FIG. 4 , the electronicdevice 101 may display, through the display module 160, a replaced image(e.g., 441) including an object (e.g., 442) representing the type ofimage on an area corresponding to at least one object included in theimage. For example, referring to (d) in FIG. 4 , the electronic device101 may identify objects representing people included in the image,determine the type of image to be a people type including two people,based on the fact that the number of objects representing the people is2, and display an object 442 representing the type of image on an areacorresponding to the object representing the people, thereby displayinga replaced image 441 in which the original of the area where the object442 representing the type of image is displayed is unrecognizable nut inwhich the original of the remaining area, excluding the area where theobject 442 representing the type of image is displayed, is recognizable.

As described above, displaying a replaced image may indicate displayingthe replaced image by replacing the original image.

In some embodiments, displaying a replaced image may indicate displayingthe original image and a modulation layer so as to overlap each other,and thus displaying a replaced image may be understood as displaying theoriginal image and the modulation layer so as to overlap each other.Displaying the original image and the modulation layer to overlap eachother will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 5 . Themodulation layer may include a modulation object. Therefore, in FIG. 5 ,a description of the modulation layer may be understood as a descriptionof the modulation object. For example, producing a modulation layer maybe understood as producing a modulation object. In some embodiments,displaying a modulation layer may be understood as displaying amodulation object. In some embodiments, displaying the modulation layerto overlap the original image may indicate displaying the modulationobject to overlap the original image. In some embodiments, a modulationobject may be produced, regardless of the modulation layer, and themodulation object may be displayed to overlap the original image.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment. FIG. 5 will be described withreference to FIG. 4 .

Referring to FIG. 5 , in operation 501, according to an embodiment, theelectronic device 101 (e.g., the processor 120 of the electronic device101) may identify a general object and a security object included in animage. The general object may be an object that does not includesecurity information, and the security object may be an object thatincludes security information. For example, the electronic device 101may identify a landscape and people included in a people image, and mayidentify the identified landscape as a general object and identify theidentified people as a security object. For example, the electronicdevice 101 may identify a general character string and a securitycharacter string (e.g., a name and an account number) included in adocument image, and may identify the identified general character stringas a general object and identify the identified security characterstring as a security object. For example, the electronic device 101 mayidentify a person and a resident registration number included in an IDimage, and may identify the identified person as a general object andidentify the identified resident registration number as a securityobject. The general objects and security objects are only examples andare not specifically limited.

In operation 503, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may identify at least one object included in the image and produce atleast one security layer including at least one security object and atleast one general layer including at least one general object. Theelectronic device 101 may produce respective layers including one objector respective layers including a plurality of objects. For example, theelectronic device 101 may produce a security layer including a securityobject representing people included in a people image and produce ageneral layer including at least one remaining object, excluding thesecurity object representing the people included in the people image. Insome embodiments, for example, the electronic device 101 may produce afirst security layer including an object representing a residentregistration number included in an ID card image, produce a secondsecurity layer including an object representing an address included inthe ID card image, and produce a general layer including at least oneremaining object, excluding the object representing the residentregistration number and the object representing the address included inthe ID image. In some embodiments, the electronic device 101 may producea security layer including an object representing a residentregistration number and an object representing an address included inthe ID image. The electronic device 101 may store the produced at leastone security layer and/or at least one general layer as respective filesfor each layer, and may temporarily produce at least one security layerand/or at least one general layer and temporarily store the same in abuffer by a specific request and then, when the process according to thespecific request is completed, delete the at least one produced securitylayer and/or the at least one produced general layer. The method ofproducing, storing, or deleting the layers is not limited to a specificmethod.

In operation 505, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may produce a modulation layer, based on at least one security objectincluded in the image. The electronic device 101, based on respectivesecurity objects included in the image, may produce a plurality ofmodulation layers corresponding to the respective security objects or,based on at least one security object included in the image, may produceone modulation layer.

For example, referring to (a), (b), and (c) in FIG. 4 , the electronicdevice 101 may identify objects representing people included in theimage, identify that the number of objects representing the people is 2,and produce one modulation layer to modulate an area corresponding toobjects representing people. For example, the electronic device 101 mayidentify a first area corresponding to a first object representing afirst person and a second area corresponding to a second objectrepresenting a second person from an image including two people, andproduce a modulation layer corresponding to a security area includingthe identified first area and second area. For example, the modulationlayer may indicate a layer for image-processing an area corresponding tothe security object, based on a degree of image-processing. The degreeof image-processing may be predetermined. In some embodiments, forexample, the modulation layer may indicate a layer produced byimage-processing an area corresponding to the security object, based onthe degree of image-processing. For example, referring to (a) in FIG. 4, the modulation layer may indicate a layer produced by bluffing an area412 corresponding to the security object such that the original of thearea 412 is unrecognizable. In some embodiments, for example, referringto (b) in FIG. 4 , the modulation layer may indicate a layer produced byperforming image-processing (e.g., bluffing 70%) an area 422corresponding to the security object such that the original image of thearea 422 cannot be exactly recognized but such that the contour of thearea 422 and the lines or colors included in the area 422 can berecognized. In some embodiments, for example, referring to (c) in FIG. 4, the modulation layer may indicate a layer produced by performingimage-processing (e.g., bluffing 50%) an area 432 corresponding to thesecurity object such that the original image of the area 432 cannot beexactly recognized but such that the contour of the area 432 and most ofthe appearances of the people included in the area 432, excluding thefeatures thereof, can be recognized. For example, the modulation layermay include information about an area that is a target to beimage-processed (e.g., the position and degree of image-processing ofthe target area) but may not include information about the remainingareas, excluding the area that is a target to be image-processed.

In some embodiments, for example, referring to (a) and (b) in FIG. 3A,the electronic device 101 may identify a plurality of security objectsrepresenting a name, a passport number, and comprehensive information ofa passport holder included in a passport image, and produce a pluralityof modulation layers for modulating areas corresponding to therespective security objects. For example, the modulation layer mayindicate a layer for image-processing an area corresponding to thesecurity object, based on an image-processing method. Theimage-processing method may be predetermined. In some embodiments, forexample, the modulation layer may indicate a layer produced byimage-processing an area corresponding to the security object, based onan image-processing method. The image-processing method may bepredetermined. For example, referring to (a) in FIG. 3A, the electronicdevice 101 may produce a first modulation layer by performing blurringon an area 302 corresponding to an object representing the name suchthat the original of the area 302 is unrecognizable, produce a secondmodulation layer by performing blurring on an area 303 corresponding toan object representing the passport number such that the original of thearea 303 is unrecognizable, and produce a third modulation layer byperforming blurring on an area 304 corresponding to an objectrepresenting the comprehensive information of a passport holder suchthat the original of the area 304 is unrecognizable. In someembodiments, for example, referring to (b) in FIG. 3A, the electronicdevice 101 may produce a first modulation layer in which a characterstring randomly selected or randomly disposed, regardless of informationincluded in the original image, is displayed on an area 312corresponding to an object representing the name, produce a secondmodulation layer in which a character string randomly selected orrandomly disposed, regardless of information included in the originalimage, is displayed on an area 313 corresponding to an objectrepresenting the passport number, and produce a third modulation layerin which a character string randomly selected or randomly disposed,regardless of information included in the original image, is displayedon an area 314 corresponding to an object representing the comprehensiveinformation of a passport holder. Like the general layer and thesecurity layer, producing, storing, or deleting the modulation layer isnot limited to a specific method

In operation 507, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may control the display module 160 to display an image and at least onemodulation layer corresponding to the image so as to overlap each other.For example, referring to (a) in FIG. 4 , the electronic device 101 maydisplay an original image including two people and a modulation layerfor blurring an area 412 corresponding to two people so as to overlapeach other. In some embodiments, for example, referring to (a) in FIG.3A, the electronic device 101 may display an original image including apassport and a plurality of modulation layers (e.g., a first modulationlayer for blurring the first area 302 corresponding to the name, asecond modulation layer for blurring the second area 303 correspondingto the passport number, and a third modulation layer for bluffing thethird area 304 corresponding to the comprehensive information of apassport holder) so as to overlap each other.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment. FIG. 6 will be described withreference to FIG. 8 . FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the operation ofan electronic device according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 6 , in operation 601, according to an embodiment, theelectronic device 101 (e.g., the processor 120 of the electronic device101) may receive a display request for a plurality of images including afirst image. For example, the electronic device 101 may receive arequest for executing a gallery application and receive a displayrequest for at least one image related to the gallery application.

In operation 603, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may analyze the plurality of images including the first image. Forexample, the electronic device 101 may determine that the first image isto be displayed using a replaced image, based on an analysis result ofat least one object included in the first image, and that at least oneimage distinct from the first image is to be displayed using an originalimage, based on an analysis result of at least one object included in atleast one image. For example, the electronic device 101 may determinethat a replaced image determined based on at least one object includedin the first image is to be displayed based on the fact that the firstimage includes at least one security object and that at least one otherimage is to be displayed using an original image, based on the fact thatat least one other image distinct from the first image does not includea security object.

In operation 605, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101,based on the analysis result of the plurality of images, may control thedisplay module 160 to display at least one other image distinct from thefirst image, which is determined to be displayed using the originalimage, among the plurality of images, together with the replaced imagecorresponding to the first image. For example, referring to (c2) in FIG.8 , the electronic device 101 may display together a first replacedimage 811 corresponding to the first image, a second replaced image 812corresponding to the second image, and at least one other image (e.g.,813) determined to be displayed using the original image, which isdistinguished from the first image and the second image.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment. FIG. 7 will be described withreference to FIG. 8 . FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the operation ofan electronic device according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 7 , in operation 701, according to an embodiment, theelectronic device 101 (e.g., the processor 120 of the electronic device101) may receive a display request for an image. For example, theelectronic device 101 may receive a display request for at least oneimage related to a specific application (e.g., a gallery application, atext application, a calendar application, or a memo application) byreceiving a request for executing the specific application.

In operation 703, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may identify state information of the electronic device 101. Forexample, the electronic device 101 may identify state information of theelectronic device 101 including location information of the electronicdevice 101 using the communication module 190 (e.g., a global navigationsatellite system (GNSS) communication module or a global positioningsystem (GPS) communication module). In some embodiments, for example,the electronic device 101 may identify state information of theelectronic device 101 including information about external devicesaround the electronic device 101 using the communication module 190(e.g., an ultra-wideband (UWB) communication module or a Bluetoothcommunication module). In some embodiments, for example, the electronicdevice 101 may identify state information of the electronic device 101including information about a network (e.g., the first network 198 orthe second network 199) to which the electronic device 101 is currentlyconnected using the communication module 190 (e.g., a Bluetoothcommunication module, a wireless fidelity (WiFi) communication module, awireless fidelity (WiFi) direct communication module, a legacy cellularcommunication module, or a 5G communication module). The stateinformation of the electronic device 101 is merely exemplary and is notlimited to a specific type of state information.

In operation 705, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may identify a safe zone state. For example, the electronic device 101may identify that the electronic device 101 is located in the safe zoneor that the electronic device 100 is in a safe zone state. For example,the safe zone state may indicate a state in which the electronic device101 is located in a specified place. In some embodiments, for example,the safe zone may indicate a state in which the electronic device 101 isable to perform communication through a specified network or a state inwhich the electronic device 101 is performing communication through aspecified network. In some embodiments, for example, the safe zone mayindicate a state in which the electronic device 101 is able to sense aspecified device located therearound or a state in which the electronicdevice 101 is able to communicate with a specified device. Theelectronic device 101 may perform operation 707, based on identifyingthe safe zone state (705, YES), and perform operation 709, based onidentifying a non-safe zone state (705, NO).

In operation 707, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may display a permitted image. For example, the electronic device 101may display an image allowed in the safe zone state, based onidentifying the safe zone state. Images may be divided into generalimages and security images. The security image may indicate an image inwhich an original image thereof is permitted to be displayed in a safezone state but in which the original image is not permitted to bedisplayed in a non-safe zone state. The general image may indicate animage in which an original image thereof is always permitted to bedisplayed regardless of the safe zone state. For example, based on theidentification of the safe zone state, the electronic device 101 maydisplay an image (e.g., at least one general image and at least onesecurity image whose original image is permitted to be displayed in thesafe zone state) allowed in the safe zone state. For example, referringto (c1) in FIG. 8 , the electronic device 101, based on identifying thesafe zone state, may display at least one general image and at least onesecurity image (e.g., a first security image 801, a second securityimage 802, and/or a third security image 803) whose original image ispermitted to be displayed in the safe zone state.

In operation 709, according to an embodiment, based on identifying thatthe electronic device 101 is not in the safe zone state, the electronicdevice 101 may not display an unpermitted image (e.g., a security image)or may display a replaced image corresponding to an unpermitted image(e.g., a security image). For example, based on identifying that theelectronic device 101 is not in the safe zone state, the electronicdevice 101 may display at least one general image and may not display anunpermitted image (e.g., a security image) or display a replaced imagecorresponding to an unpermitted image (e.g., a security image). Forexample, referring to (c2) in FIG. 8 , the electronic device 101, basedon identification of a non-safe zone state, may display at least onegeneral image and replaced images (e.g., a first replaced image 811corresponding to a first security image 801 and a second replaced image812 corresponding to a second security image 802) corresponding tounpermitted images (e.g., the first security image 801 and the secondsecurity image 802). For example, referring to (c2) in FIG. 8 , based onidentifying that the electronic device 101 is not in the safe zonestate, the electronic device 101 may not display a replaced imagecorresponding to a third security image 803 and display a next generalimage 813 at the position where the third security image 803 would bedisplayed if the electronic device 101 were in the safe zone state.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment. FIG. 9 will be described withreference to FIGS. 10 and 11 . FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating thestate of an electronic device according to an embodiment. FIG. 11 is adiagram illustrating an operation of an electronic device according toan embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 9 , in operation 901, according to an embodiment, theelectronic device 101 (e.g., the processor 120 of the electronic device101) may identify state information of the electronic device 101.

In operation 903, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may identify whether or not the electronic device 101 is in the statecapable of sensing a specified device located therearound or whether ornot the electronic device 101 is in the state capable of communicatingwith a specified device using the communication module 190. In operation905, the electronic device 101 may determine that the electronic device101 is in a first state, based on identifying that the electronic device101 is in the state capable of sensing a specified device locatedtherearound or that the electronic device 101 is in the state capable ofcommunicating with a specified device (905, YES). The electronic device101 may perform operation 907, based on identifying that the electronicdevice 101 is not in the state capable of sensing a specified devicelocated therearound or that the electronic device 101 is not in thestate capable of communicating with a specified device (903, NO).

In operation 907, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may identify whether or not the electronic device 101 is located in aspecified place using the communication module 190. The electronicdevice 101 may perform operation 909, based on identifying that theelectronic device 101 is located at a specified place (907, YES), andperform operation 913, based on identifying that the electronic device101 is not located at a specified place (907, NO).

In operation 909, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may identify whether or not the electronic device 101 is in the statecapable of performing communication through a specified network orwhether or not the electronic device 101 is in the state of performingcommunication through a specified network using the communication module190. Based on identifying that the electronic device 101 is in the statecapable of performing communication through a specified network or thatthe electronic device 101 is in the state of performing communicationthrough a specified network (909, YES), the electronic device 101 maydetermine that the electronic device 101 is in a first state inoperation 905. Based on identifying that the electronic device 101 isnot in the state capable of performing communication through a specifiednetwork or that the electronic device 101 is not in the state ofperforming communication through a specified network (909, NO), theelectronic device 101 may determine that electronic device 101 is in asecond state in operation 911.

In operation 913, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may determine whether the electronic device 101 has intimacy with aperipheral device sensed by the electronic device 101 using thecommunication module 190 or with a peripheral device with which theelectronic device 101 communicates using the communication module 190.For example, the electronic device 101 may determine whether or not theperipheral device is registered in the contact list of the electronicdevice 101, whether or not communication or a phone connection betweenthe peripheral device and the electronic device 101 is periodicallyperformed, or whether or not the peripheral device and the electronicdevice 101 are registered in the same network, thereby determiningintimacy with the peripheral device. The electronic device 101, based ondetermining that the electronic device 101 has intimacy with theperipheral device (913, YES), may determine that the electronic device101 is in a second state in operation 911 and, based on determining thatthe electronic device 101 does not have intimacy with the peripheraldevice (913, NO), determine that the electronic device 101 is in a thirdstate in operation 915. The criteria for determining intimacy with aperipheral device are merely exemplary, and are not specificallylimited.

Referring to FIG. 10 , for example, based on identifying that theelectronic device 101 is located within a predetermined first area andis connected to a predetermined first network, the electronic device 101may determine that the device 101 is located inside a first safe zoneand that the electronic device 101 is in a first state. In someembodiments, for example, based on identifying that the electronicdevice 101 is located within a predetermined first area and is notconnected to a predetermined first network, the electronic device 101may determine that the device 101 is located at the boundary of a firstsafe zone and that the electronic device 101 is in a second state. Insome embodiments, for example, based on identifying that the electronicdevice 101 is not located within a predetermined first area or that theelectronic device 101 is not located within a predetermined first areaand is not connected to a predetermined first network, the electronicdevice 101 may determine that the electronic device 101 is not in a safezone state and that the electronic device 101 is in a third state. Thecriteria for determining the state of the electronic device 101 aremerely exemplary and are not specifically limited.

For example, referring to (a) in FIG. 11 , the electronic device 101 mayidentify that the electronic device 101 is in the state capable ofdisplaying an original image of the security image, based on the casewhere the electronic device 101 is in the first state described as anexample in FIGS. 9 and 10 , thereby displaying the original image (e.g.,1101) of the security image. For example, the original image 1101 of thesecurity image (e.g., a passport image) may be an image including asecurity object 1102 (e.g., a name, a passport number, and comprehensiveinformation of a passport holder), and the electronic device 101 maydisplay the original image 1101 of the security image such that the usermay recognize the security object 1102. The electronic device 101 maydisplay the original image 1101 of the security image together with anobject 1103 corresponding to the type of security image. In someembodiments, for example, referring to (b) in FIG. 11 , the electronicdevice 101 may identify that the electronic device 101 is in the stateincapable of displaying an original image of the security image, basedon the case where the electronic device 101 is in the second statedescribed as an example in FIGS. 9 and 10 , thereby displaying areplaced image (e.g., 1111) corresponding to the security image. Forexample, based on the second state, the electronic device 101 maydisplay a replaced image 1111 in which the original of an area 1112corresponding to the security object cannot be identified. Theelectronic device 101 may display the replaced image 1111 correspondingto the security image together with an object 1113 corresponding to thetype of security image. In some embodiments, for example, referring to(c) in FIG. 11 , the electronic device 101 may identify that theelectronic device 101 is in the state incapable of displaying anoriginal image of the security image, based on the case where theelectronic device 101 is in the third state described as an example inFIGS. 9 and 10 , thereby displaying a replaced image (e.g., 1121)corresponding to the security image. For example, based on the thirdstate, the electronic device 101 may display a replaced image 1121including an object 1123 corresponding to the type of security image.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment. FIG. 12 will be described withreference to FIG. 13 . FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an operation ofan electronic device according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 12 , in operation 1201, according to an embodiment,the electronic device 101 (e.g., the processor 120 of the electronicdevice 101) may identify state information of the electronic device 101.

In operation 1203, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may identify whether or not the electronic device 101 is in a first safezone state. For example, the electronic device 101 may identify thefirst safe zone state, based on the case where the electronic device 101is located in a place that is previously configured as a first place(e.g., home) by the user. The electronic device 101 may determine thatthe electronic device 101 is in a state “a” in operation 1205, based onidentifying that the electronic device 101 is in the first safe zonestate (1203, YES). The electronic device 101 may perform operation 1207,based on identifying that the electronic device 101 is not in the firstsafe zone state (1203, NO).

In operation 1207, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may identify whether or not the electronic device 101 is in a secondsafe zone state. For example, the electronic device 101 may identify thesecond safe zone state, based on the case where the electronic device101 is located in a place that is previously configured as a secondplace (e.g., office) by the user. The electronic device 101 maydetermine that the electronic device 101 is in a state “b” in operation1209, based on identifying that the electronic device 101 is in thesecond safe zone state (1207, YES). The electronic device 101 maydetermine that the electronic device is in a state “c” in operation1211, based on identifying that the electronic device 101 is not in thesecond safe zone state (1207, NO).

Referring to FIG. 13 , for example, in (a) in FIG. 13 , the electronicdevice 101, based on the case where the electronic device 101 is in thestate “a” described as an example in FIG. 12 , may display a firstsecurity image using an original image 1312 and display a secondsecurity image using a replaced image 1313. In some embodiments, forexample, in (b) in FIG. 13 , the electronic device 101, based on thecase where the electronic device 101 is in the state “b” described as anexample in FIG. 12 , may display a first security image using a replacedimage 1322 and display a second security image using an original image1323. In some embodiments, for example, in (c) of FIG. 13 , theelectronic device 101, based on the case where the electronic device 101is in the state “c” described as an example in FIG. 12 , may display afirst security image using a replaced image 1332 and display a secondsecurity image using an replaced image 1333.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment. FIG. 14 will be described withreference to FIGS. 15, 16, and 17 . FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating anoperation of an electronic device according to an embodiment. FIG. 16 isa diagram illustrating an operation of an electronic device according toan embodiment. FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an operation of anelectronic device according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 14 , in operation 1401, according to an embodiment,the electronic device 101 (e.g., the processor 120 of the electronicdevice 101), in response to a display request for an image, may displaya replaced image (or a portion of a replaced image) corresponding to theimage.

In operation 1403, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may receive a user's touch input to the display module 160 after thereplaced image (or a portion of the replaced image) corresponding to theimage is displayed. The user's touch input may indicate an input oftouching the surface of the display module 160 using the user's finger,an input of touching the surface of the display module 160 using aseparate input device (e.g., a stylus pen), or a user input electricallyreceived by the electronic device 101 using a separate input device(e.g., a mouse or a pad that receives a touch input of a separate styluspen) connected to the electronic device 101 through wired or wirelesscommunication.

In operation 1405, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may determine an image to be displayed next, based on the type of thereceived user's touch input.

In operation 1407, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may display the determined image.

For example, referring to FIG. 15 , the electronic device 101 mayidentify a user input 1502 (e.g., a swipe input) that requestsdisplaying a next image while a general image 1501 is being displayed asshown in (a) of FIG. 15 . If the next image is a security image, theelectronic device 101, based on the type of the user input 1502 (e.g., aswipe input), may display a portion of a replaced image (e.g., 1511 or1512) corresponding to the security image as shown in (b1) or (b2) ofFIG. 15 . For example, the replaced image 1511 may be an image selectedfrom predetermined images according to the type of security image andthe characteristics of at least one object included in the securityimage, and the replaced image 1512 may be an image in which an area 1513corresponding to at least one security object included in the securityimage is modulated. The electronic device 101 may display a portion of apreviously displayed general image 1501 and a portion of a replacedimage (e.g., 1511 or 1512) corresponding to a security image as shown in(b1) or (b2) of FIG. 15 , and then display again the entirety of thepreviously displayed general image 1501 as shown in (c) of FIG. 15 .

In some embodiments, for example, referring to FIG. 16 , in response toa user input 1612 that requests displaying a next image while a generalimage 1611 is being displayed as shown in (a) of FIG. 16 , theelectronic device 101 may display a portion of the previously displayedgeneral image 1611 and a portion of a replaced image 1613 correspondingto a security image, and the replaced image 1613 may be an image inwhich an area 1614 corresponding to at least one security objectincluded in the security image is modulated, and then display again theentirety of the previously displayed general image 1611 as shown in (b)of FIG. 16 . The electronic device 101 may receive a user's touch input1622 to the display module 160 while the entirety of the general image1611 is displayed again as shown in (b) of FIG. 16 . The electronicdevice 101, as shown in (c) of FIG. 16 , may display an original image1631 of a security image corresponding to the replaced image 1613, basedon the type of the user's touch input 1622 (e.g., a two-finger swipeinput).

In some embodiments, for example, referring to FIG. 17 , in response toa user input 1712 that requests displaying a next image while a generalimage 1711 is being displayed as shown in (a) of FIG. 17 , theelectronic device 101 may display a portion of the previously displayedgeneral image 1711 and a portion of a replaced image 1713 correspondingto a security image. Thereafter, although not shown in FIG. 17 , theelectronic device 101 may display the entirety of the previouslydisplayed general image 1711 again, or maintain the state of displayinga portion of the previously displayed general image 1711 and a portionof the replaced image 1713 corresponding to a security image untilreceiving a next user input as shown in (b) of FIG. 17 . In this case, aportion of the replaced image 1713 may include an object 1723corresponding to the type of security image corresponding to thereplaced image 1713 and/or the characteristics of at least one objectincluded in the security image. Thereafter, although not shown in FIG.17 , in the state in which the entirety of the previously displayedgeneral image 1711 is displayed again or in the state in which a portionof the previously displayed general image 1711 and a portion of thereplaced image 1713 corresponding to the security image are displayed asshown in (b) of FIG. 17 , the electronic device 101 may receive a user'stouch input 1724 to the display module 160. The electronic device 101may display a next general image 1731, instead of the security image,based on the type of the user's touch input 1724 (e.g., a swipe input).For example, the next general image 1731 may be an image configured as afirst image group together with the general image 1711 displayedpreviously or as a second image group different from the general image1711 displayed previously. The image group may be configured accordingto the type of image, the characteristics of at least one objectincluded in the image, the date and/or time at which the image isproduced, or the location of the electronic device 101 when the image isproduced. If the general image 1731 displayed in (c) of FIG. 17 is animage belonging to the first image group, the electronic device 101, inresponse to a user input that requests displaying a next image while thegeneral image 1731 is being displayed, may display a next general image1741 belonging to the first image group. In some embodiments, if thegeneral image 1731 displayed in (c) of FIG. 17 is an image belonging tothe second image group, the electronic device 101, in response to a userinput that requests displaying a next image while the general image 1731is being displayed, may display a next general image 1741 belonging tothe second image group.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment. FIG. 18 will be described withreference to FIG. 19 . FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an operation ofan electronic device according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 18 , in operation 1801, according to an embodiment,the electronic device 101 (e.g., the processor 120 of the electronicdevice 101) may identify at least one object included in an image.

In operation 1803, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may identify a privacy level of the image, based on an analysis resultof at least one object included in the image.

For example, referring to FIG. 19 , the electronic device 101 maydetermine the type of first image to be a people image, based on apeople object included in the first image, and identify that the firstimage is a group people image including three (or more) people, based onthree (or more) objects indicating people included in the first image,and in this case, the electronic device 101 may determine the privacylevel of the first image as privacy level 1. In some embodiments, forexample, referring to FIG. 19 , the electronic device 101 may determinethe type of the second image to be a people image, based on a peopleobject included in the second image, and determine the privacy level ofthe second image as privacy level 2, based on the case where there isone object representing the people included in the second image or basedon the case where the characteristics of the object representing thepeople included in the second image indicate the people not wearingclothes. In some embodiments, for example, referring to FIG. 19 , theelectronic device 101 may determine the type of the second image to be apeople image, based on a people object included in the second image, andidentify that the first image is a people image including two people,based on the case where there is two objects representing the peopleincluded in the second image, and in this case, the electronic device101 may determine the privacy level of the second image as privacy level3. In some embodiments, for example, referring to FIG. 19 , theelectronic device 101 may determine the type of a fourth image to be anID image, based on a face object and a resident registration numberobject included in the fourth image, and identify that the fourth imageis an ID image of the user of the electronic device 101, based on thecase where the resident registration number object included in thefourth image corresponds to the resident registration number of the userof the electronic device 101 or where the face object included in thefourth image corresponds to a face of the user of the electronic device101, and in this case, the electronic device 101 may determine theprivacy level of the fourth image as privacy level 2. In someembodiments, for example, referring to FIG. 19 , the electronic device101 may determine the type of a fifth image to be an ID image, based ona face object and a resident registration number object included in thefifth image, and identify that the fifth image is an ID image of someoneelse, based on the case where the resident registration number objectincluded in the fifth image corresponds to the resident registrationnumber of the user of the electronic device 101 or where the face objectincluded in the fifth image corresponds to a face of someone else otherthan the user of the electronic device 101, and in this case, theelectronic device 101 may determine the privacy level of the fifth imageas privacy level 3. In some embodiments, for example, referring to FIG.19 , the electronic device 101 may determine the type of a sixth imageas a document image, based on a paper object and/or a character stringobject included in the sixth image, and may determine the privacy levelof the sixth image as privacy level 1, based on the case where thenumber of objects including security information, among at least onecharacter string object included in the image, is less than a thresholdvalue. In some embodiments, for example, referring to FIG. 19 , theelectronic device 101 may determine the type of a seventh image to be adocument image, based on a paper object and/or a character string objectincluded in the seventh image, and may determine the privacy level ofthe seventh image as privacy level 2, based on the case where the numberof objects including security information, among at least one characterstring object included in the image, is greater than or equal to athreshold value. In some embodiments, for example, referring to FIG. 19, the electronic device 101 may determine the type of an eighth image tobe a document image, based on a paper object and/or a character stringobject included in the eighth image, and may determine the privacy levelof the eighth image as privacy level 3, based on the case where at leastone character string object included in the image is an object relatedto someone else's security information. The criteria for determining theprivacy level of an image are merely exemplary, and there are notspecifically limited.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 20 , in operation 2001, according to an embodiment,the electronic device 101 (e.g., the processor 120 of the electronicdevice 101) may receive a user input for selecting a privacy levelcorresponding to an image. For example, the user may perform an inputfor selecting a privacy level corresponding to a specific image througha screen provided through the display module 160 of the electronicdevice 101.

In operation 2003, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may assign the selected privacy level to the image. For example, theelectronic device 101 may determine the privacy level of a specificimage as a privacy level (e.g., privacy level 1, 2, or 3) selected tocorrespond to the image.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment. FIG. 21 will be described withreference to FIG. 22 . FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an operation ofan electronic device according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 21 , in operation 2101, according to an embodiment,the electronic device 101 (e.g., the processor 120 of the electronicdevice 101) may receive a display request for an image.

In operation 2103, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may identify a privacy level corresponding to the image for which thedisplay request is received.

In operation 2105, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may display an object corresponding to the privacy level of the image.The object may be predetermined.

For example, referring to FIG. 22 , the electronic device 101 mayreceive a display request for an ID image corresponding to a securityimage. The electronic device 101 may identify that the privacy level ofthe ID image is privacy level 2. In response to a display request forthe ID image corresponding to a security image, the electronic device101 may display an object (e.g., an object 2205 representing privacylevel 2) corresponding to privacy level 2, which is the privacy level ofthe ID image. For example, in response to a display request for the IDimage, the electronic device 101 may display a replaced image 2201including an object 2203 representing an ID image, which is the type ofthe image, and an object specific 2205 representing the privacy level ofthe image.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 23 , in operation 2301, according to an embodiment,the electronic device 101 (e.g., the processor 120 of the electronicdevice 101) may display a replaced image corresponding to an image. Forexample, in response to a display request for a security image, theelectronic device 101 may display a replaced image corresponding to thesecurity image.

In operation 2303, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may identify a privacy level of an original image corresponding to thedisplayed replaced image.

In operation 2305, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may display an authentication method corresponding to the identifiedprivacy level. For example, the electronic device 101 may display anotification describing an authentication method corresponding to theprivacy level, according to the privacy level of the image. For example,the electronic device 101 may display an object corresponding topassword input or security pattern input, based on the fact that theprivacy level of the image is privacy level 1. In some embodiments, forexample, the electronic device 101 may display an object correspondingto fingerprint recognition, iris (eyeball) recognition, or facerecognition, based on the fact that the privacy level of the image isprivacy level 2. In some embodiments, for example, the electronic device101 may display an object indicating that authentication is requiredthrough an external device, based on the fact that the privacy level ofthe image is privacy level 3. The authentication methods correspondingto the privacy level are merely exemplary, and the authentication methodis not limited.

In operation 2307, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may perform an authentication procedure corresponding to the privacylevel. For example, based on privacy level 1, the electronic device 101may perform an authentication procedure of a security pattern input 2642as shown in (d) of FIG. 26 to be described later. In some embodiments,for example, based on privacy level 2, the electronic device 101 mayperform an authentication procedure of fingerprint recognition 2833 oriris (eyeball) recognition 2832 as shown in (c) of FIG. 28 to bedescribed later. In some embodiments, for example, the electronic device101, based on a user input requesting execution of an authenticationprocedure corresponding to privacy level 3 or based on identifyingprivacy level 3, regardless of the presence or absence of a user input,may perform the authentication procedure of transmitting anauthentication request signal to an external device associated with atleast one object included in the image and receiving an authenticationsignal from the external device. For example, the external deviceassociated with at least one object included in the image may include afirst external device associated with someone else corresponding to aface included in an ID image, a second external device associated withsomeone else corresponding to an account number included in a contractdocument, or a third external device associated with someone elsecorresponding to the people included in a people image, but is notspecifically limited.

In operation 2309, the electronic device 101 may display the image inresponse to the authentication (i.e., a successful authentication). Forexample, in response to completion of authentication according tooperation 2307, the electronic device 101 may stop displaying thereplaced image and display an original image corresponding to thereplaced image.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 24 , in operation 2401, according to an embodiment,the electronic device 101 (e.g., the processor 120 of the electronicdevice 101) may display an image and a modulation layer so as to overlapeach other. For example, in response to a display request for a securityimage, the electronic device 101 may display an original image of thesecurity image and a modulation layer so as to overlap.

In operation 2403, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may identify a privacy level of the original image.

In operation 2405, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may display an authentication method corresponding to the identifiedprivacy level.

In operation 2407, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may perform an authentication procedure corresponding to the privacylevel.

In operation 2309, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may stop displaying the modulation layer in response to completion ofauthentication according to operation 2307. For example, the electronicdevice 101 may stop displaying the modulation layer while displaying theoriginal image of the security image and the modulation layer tooverlap, thereby displaying only the original image of the securityimage on the display module 160.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment. FIG. 25 will be described withreference to FIG. 26 . FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating an operation ofan electronic device according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 25 , in operation 2501, according to an embodiment,the electronic device 101 (e.g., the processor 120 of the electronicdevice 101) may receive a user input to a toggle key in relation tototal authentication (total identification). The toggle key may bepredetermined. Total authentication may indicate performingauthentication for at least one security image having the same privacylevel at once. Referring to (b) in FIG. 26 , the toggle key may indicatea specific object (e.g., a toggle key 2621) displayed on the displaymodule 160 of the electronic device 101. Referring to (b) in FIG. 26 , auser input to the toggle key may indicate a user's touch input to aspecific object (e.g., a toggle key 2621) displayed on the displaymodule 160 of the electronic device 101. For example, referring to (a)in FIG. 26 , the electronic device 101 may display at least one image.For example, the electronic device 101 may display a replaced imagecorresponding to at least one security image. For example, referring to(a) in FIG. 26 , the electronic device 101 may display a first replacedimage 2611 corresponding to a first security image having privacy level1, a second replaced image 2616 corresponding to a second security imagehaving privacy level 2, a third replaced image 2612 corresponding to athird security image having privacy level 3, a fourth replaced image2613 corresponding to a fourth security image having privacy level 3, afifth replaced image 2614 corresponding to a fifth security image havingprivacy level 3, a sixth replaced image 2615 corresponding to a sixthsecurity image having privacy level 3, and at least one general image.In this state, the electronic device 101 may display a screen includinga toggle key 2621 shown in (b) of FIG. 26 , based on a user input 2617requesting displaying a toggle key, and receive a user input to thetoggle key 2621.

In operation 2503, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may perform an authentication procedure based on a privacy levelcorresponding to an activation level of the toggle key. For example, theelectronic device 101 may identify a privacy level corresponding to theactivation level of the toggle key according to the user input to thetoggle key and, based on the identified privacy level, perform anauthentication procedure corresponding to the privacy level. Forexample, referring to FIG. 26 , the electronic device 101 may receive auser input to the toggle key 2621 that has not yet been activated in (b)in FIG. 26 and, based on a user input, display an object indicating thatthe toggle key was activated as level 1 as shown in (c) of FIG. 26 . Forexample, based on the case in which the activation level of the togglekey is 1, the electronic device 101 may immediately display an object2641 representing an authentication procedure corresponding to privacylevel 1 in (d) of FIG. 26 and perform an authentication procedurecorresponding to privacy level 1 (e.g., a procedure of a securitypattern input 2642). In some embodiments, as another example, theelectronic device 101, based on the fact that a predetermined timeelapses after the activation level of the toggle key is changed, mayperform an authentication procedure as described above, based on thechanged activation level (e.g., activation level 1), in (d) of FIG. 26 .If a user input to the toggle key is received again before thepredetermined time elapses, the activation level of the toggle key maychange again, and in this case, for example, the activation level of thetoggle key may change into 2. In this case, the electronic device 101may also wait for the predetermined time to elapse after the activationlevel of the toggle key is changed to 2.

In operation 2505, according to an embodiment, based on completion of anauthentication procedure corresponding to a privacy level correspondingto the activation level of the toggle key, the electronic device 101 maydisplay an original image corresponding to at least one security imagecorresponding to the authenticated privacy level. For example, referringto (d) in FIG. 26 , the electronic device 101, in response to completionof a security pattern authentication procedure corresponding to privacylevel 1, may display an original image 2651 corresponding to a firstsecurity image having privacy level 1. For example, the electronicdevice 101 may display an original image 2651 corresponding to a firstsecurity image having privacy level 1 and display at least one securityimage (e.g., a second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth security images)having privacy level 2 and/or privacy level 3 using previously displayedreplaced images (e.g., 2652, 2653, 2654, 2655, and 2656). Then, forexample, the electronic device 101 may further receive a user input 2657and, in response thereto, repeatedly perform operations 2501, 2503, and2505 described above to display at least one original imagecorresponding to at least one image corresponding to privacy level 2and/or privacy level 3.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment. FIG. 27 will be described withreference to FIG. 28 . FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating an operation ofan electronic device according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 27 , in operation 2701, according to an embodiment,the electronic device 101 (e.g., the processor 120 of the electronicdevice 101) may receive a user input for selecting an album. Forexample, the electronic device 101 may receive a user input forselecting an object representing an album corresponding to a specificprivacy level. For example, referring to FIG. 28 , the electronic device101 may receive a user input 2817 requesting displaying images in unitsof albums in (a) of FIG. 28 . In (b) in FIG. 28 , based on the userinput 2817 requesting displaying images in units of albums, theelectronic device 101 may display at least one object representing eachalbum including at least one image corresponding to each privacy level,(e.g., a first object 2821 representing an album corresponding toprivacy level 1, a second object 2822 representing an albumcorresponding to privacy level 2, and/or a third object 2823corresponding an album corresponding to privacy level 3). In (b) of FIG.28 , the electronic device 101 may receive a user input 2824 forselecting the second object 2822 representing an album corresponding toprivacy level 2.

In operation 2703, according to an embodiment, based on a privacy levelcorresponding to the selected album, the electronic device 101 mayperform an authentication procedure corresponding to the privacy level.For example, referring to FIG. 28 , based on reception of a user input2824 for selecting the second object 2822 representing an albumcorresponding to privacy level 2 in (b) of FIG. 28 , the electronicdevice 101 may display an object 2831 representing an authenticationprocedure corresponding to privacy level 2 in (c) of FIG. 28 and performan authentication procedure (e.g., a procedure of fingerprintrecognition 2833 and/or a procedure of iris (eyeball) recognition 2832)corresponding to privacy level 2.

In operation 2705, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may display at least one image included in the authenticated album. Forexample, referring to (d) in FIG. 28 , the electronic device 101, basedon completion of authentication for an album corresponding to privacylevel 2, may display at least one original image 2841 corresponding toat least one security image included in the authenticated album.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment. FIG. 29 will be described withreference to FIGS. 30 and 31 . FIG. 30 is a diagram illustrating anoperation of an electronic device according to an embodiment. FIG. 31 isa diagram illustrating an operation of an electronic device according toan embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 29 , in operation 2901, according to an embodiment,the electronic device 101 (e.g., the processor 120 of the electronicdevice 101) may display a replaced image corresponding to a first image.For example, referring to FIG. 30 , the electronic device 101 maydisplay a replaced image 3011 in (a) of FIG. 30 .

In operation 2903, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may receive a touch input to the replaced image. For example, referringto FIG. 30 , the electronic device 101 may receive a touch input 3013 toa replaced image 3011 in (a) of FIG. 30 . For example, the electronicdevice 101 may receive a touch input 3013 onto a modulation area 3012included in the replaced image 3011.

In operation 2905, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may display a portion of the first image on an area corresponding to thereceived touch input. For example, referring to FIG. 30 , in (b) of FIG.30 , the electronic device 101 may display a portion of the first imageon an area 3023 corresponding to the touch input 3013 received in (a) ofFIG. 30 . For example, the electronic device 101 may display a portionof an original image of the first image on the area 3023 correspondingto the touch input 3013. In some embodiments, for example, in the casewhere the replaced image 3011 is displayed by overlapping the originalimage of the first image and the modulation layer, the electronic device101 may stop displaying at least partial area of the modulation layercorresponding to the area 3023 corresponding to the touch input 3013,thereby displaying a portion of the original image of the first image onthe area 3023 corresponding to the touch input 3013.

In operation 2907, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may display a portion of the replaced image on the remaining area,excluding the area corresponding to the received touch input. Forexample, referring to FIG. 30 , in (b) of FIG. 30 , the electronicdevice 101 may display a portion of a replaced image 3021 on an area3022 other than the area 3023 corresponding to the touch input 3013received in (a) of FIG. 30 . For example, the electronic device 101 maydisplay the replaced image 3021 on the area 3022 other than the area3023 corresponding to the touch input 3013. In some embodiments, in thecase where the replaced image 3011 is displayed by overlapping theoriginal image of the first image and the modulation layer, theelectronic device 101 may display at least partial area of themodulation layer on the area 3022 other than the area 3023 correspondingto the touch input 3013. As shown in (b), (c), and (d) of FIG. 30 , theelectronic device 101 may repeatedly perform operations 2903, 2905, and2907, based on subsequent user inputs (e.g., 3024 and 3034).

FIG. 29 will be further described below with reference to FIG. 31 .

For example, referring to FIG. 31 , in (a) of FIG. 31 , the electronicdevice 101 may receive a user input (e.g., a user input 3112 of wipingon the screen from the bottom to the top) in the state where a replacedimage 3111 is displayed. The electronic device 101, in response to theuser input 3112, may display at least a portion of an original imagecorresponding to the replaced image 3111 on an area 3123 to which theuser input 3112 was performed in (b) of FIG. 31 . A method of displayingat least a portion of an original image may be understood similarly tothe method described above in FIG. 30 . The electronic device 101 mayreceive a subsequent user input 3124 in (b) of FIG. 31 and may displayat least a portion of an original image corresponding to a replacedimage 3121 on an area 3133 to which the user input 3124 was performed in(c) of FIG. 31 . In (c) of FIG. 31 , the electronic device 101 mayreceive a subsequent user input 3134 and display an original image 3141corresponding to a replaced image 3131.

FIG. 32 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment. FIG. 32 will be described withreference to FIG. 33 . FIG. 33 is a diagram illustrating an operation ofan electronic device according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 32 , in operation 3201, according to an embodiment,the electronic device 101 (e.g., the processor 120 of the electronicdevice 101) may receive a sharing request for an image. For example,referring to (a) in FIG. 33 , the electronic device 101 may display anotification providing an option for image sharing and receive a sharingrequest for an image according to a user's selection from thenotification.

In operation 3203, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may identify a general object and at least one security object includedin the image requested for sharing. For example, referring to (c) inFIG. 33 , the electronic device 101 may identify a general object (e.g.,an object representing a face) and at least one security object (e.g.,an object representing a passport number or an object representingcomprehensive information of a passport holder) included in a passportimage.

In operation 3205, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may transmit information corresponding to the general object through afirst channel (e.g., a first channel 3321), transmit informationcorresponding to the first security object through a second channel(e.g., a second channel 3322), and transmit information corresponding toa second object through a third channel (e.g., a third channel 3323).The transmission channel may be pre-configured or specified by a user.For example, referring to (c) in FIG. 33 , the electronic device 101 mayimage-process a portion corresponding to the first security object(e.g., an object representing a passport number) and a positioncorresponding to the second security object (e.g., an objectrepresenting comprehensive information of a passport holder), produceinformation (or a layer) on the portion corresponding to the generalobject so as to include the original, and transmit the same to anexternal device 3390 through a first channel 3331, and may produceinformation (or a layer) corresponding to the first security object(e.g., an object representing a passport number) and transmit the sameto the external device 3390 through a second channel 3332, and mayproduce information (or a layer) corresponding to the second securityobject (e.g., an object representing a comprehensive number of apassport holder) and transmit the same to the external device 3390through a third channel 3333.

FIG. 34 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 34 , in operation 3401, according to an embodiment,the electronic device 101 (e.g., the processor 120 of the electronicdevice 101) may receive a user input for selecting a security objectincluded in an image.

In operation 3403, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may store security information corresponding to the security object in aclipboard.

In operation 3405, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may display security information stored in the clipboard at a specifiedposition according to a paste gesture.

In operation 3407, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may determine whether or not a limited number of times related to thesecurity information stored in the clipboard has been reached.

In operation 3409, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may delete the security information from the clipboard, based onidentifying that the limited number of times related to the securityinformation stored in the clipboard has been reached (3407, YES).

FIG. 35 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronicdevice according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 35 , in operation 3501, according to an embodiment,the electronic device 101 (e.g., the processor 120 of the electronicdevice 101) may receive a user input for selecting a security objectincluded in an image. For example, the electronic device 101 may receivea user input for selecting an account number object included in acontract document image.

In operation 3503, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may identify security information corresponding to the selected securityobject. For example, the electronic device 101 may identify accountnumber information corresponding to the account number object.

In operation 3505, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may identify an application corresponding to the identified securityinformation. For example, the electronic device 101 may identify abanking application corresponding to the identified account numberinformation.

In operation 3507, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 101may execute an application corresponding to the security information ordisplay an icon used to execute an application corresponding to thesecurity information. For example, the electronic device 101 may executea banking application corresponding to the account number information ordisplay an icon used to execute the banking application.

According to various embodiments, an electronic device 101 may include adisplay (e.g., the display module 160) and a processor 120, wherein theprocessor may be configured to identify a display request for aplurality of images including a first image, identify at least oneobject included in the first image, determine, based on the case wherethe first image includes at least one security object, to display areplaced image determined based on the at least one object included inthe first image, determine, based on the case where at least one otherimage that is distinct from the first image, among the plurality ofimages, does not include a security object, to display the at least oneother image, and control the display to display the replaced imagecorresponding to the first image together with the at least one otherimage.

According to various embodiments, the processor may be configured todetermine a type of the first image, based on the at least one objectincluded in the first image, determine to display a first replaced imageselected from among predetermined images, based on the type of the firstimage, and control the display to display the first replaced imagecorresponding to the first image as the replaced image.

According to various embodiments, the processor may be configured todetermine to display a second replaced image in which at least one firstarea corresponding to at least a portion of the at least one securityobject is modulated in the first image as the replaced image.

According to various embodiments, the processor may be configured tocontrol the display to display the second replaced image by displayingat least one modulation object produced based on the at least onesecurity object on the at least one first area corresponding to at leastthe portion of the at least one security object.

According to various embodiments, the processor may be configured tocontrol the display to display, based on reception of a touch input ontothe at least one modulated first area of the second replaced image,display a portion of the image on an area corresponding to the touchinput and display a portion of the at least one modulation object on theremaining area, excluding the area corresponding to the touch input,among the at least one first area.

According to various embodiments, the processor may be furtherconfigured to identify state information of the electronic device and,based on the state information, determine whether or not to display thereplaced image.

According to various embodiments, the processor may be configured toidentify the state information, based on at least one of whether or notthe electronic device is located in a specified place, whether or notthe electronic device is connected to a specified network, or whether ornot the electronic device senses a specified device.

According to various embodiments, the processor may be configured todetermine, if the electronic device is not located in the specifiedplace and is not connected to the specified network, to display a firstreplaced image selected from among images predetermined based on thetype of the first image determined based on the at least one object, anddetermine, if the electronic device is located in the specified placeand is not connected to the specified network, to display a secondreplaced image in which at least one first area corresponding to atleast a portion of the at least one security object is modulated in thefirst image.

According to various embodiments, the processor may be furtherconfigured to identify a privacy level of the first image, based on theat least one object.

According to various embodiments, the processor may be furtherconfigured to perform an authentication procedure corresponding to theprivacy level in response to a user input and, based on authenticationaccording to the authentication procedure, control the display to stopdisplaying the replaced image and display the first image.

According to various embodiments, the electronic device of claim mayfurther include a communication module 190, wherein the processor may befurther configured to control the communication module to transmit,based on the fact that the privacy level is a first privacy level, afirst authentication request signal, in response to the user input, to afirst external device (e.g., the electronic device 102, the electronicdevice 104, or the server 108) associated with the at least one objectincluded in the first image and receive a first authentication signalfrom the first external device.

According to various embodiments, the processor may be configured toperform the authentication procedure corresponding to the privacy levelin response to the user input requesting execution of totalauthentication for at least one image having the same privacy level asthe privacy level of the first image and control the display, based onauthentication according to the authentication procedure, to stopdisplaying the replaced image corresponding to the first image and atleast one replaced image corresponding to the at least one image, anddisplay the first image and the at least one image.

According to various embodiments, the processor may be configured toidentify the user input, based on a touch input to a predeterminedauthentication object displayed on the display.

According to various embodiments, a method of operating an electronicdevice 101 may include identifying a display request for a plurality ofimages including a first image, identifying at least one object includedin the first image, determining, based on the case where the first imageincludes at least one security object, to display a replaced imagedetermined based on the at least one object included in the first image,determining, based on the case where at least one other image that isdistinct from the first image, among the plurality of images, does notinclude a security object, to display the at least one other image, anddisplaying the replaced image corresponding to the first image togetherwith the at least one other image through a display (e.g., the displaymodule 160) of the electronic device.

According to various embodiments, the determining to display thereplaced image determined based on the at least one object included inthe first image may include determining to display a first replacedimage selected from among predetermined images, based on a type of thefirst image determined based on the at least one object included in thefirst image, and displaying the first replaced image corresponding tothe first image as the replaced image.

According to various embodiments, in the method, the determining todisplay the replaced image determined based on the at least one objectincluded in the first image may include determining to display a secondreplaced image in which at least one first area corresponding to atleast a portion of the at least one security object is modulated in thefirst image as the replaced image.

According to various embodiments, the method may further includeidentifying state information of the electronic device and, based on thestate information, determining whether or not to display the replacedimage.

According to various embodiments, the method may further includeidentifying a privacy level of the first image, based on the at leastone object included in the first image.

According to various embodiments, the method may further includeperforming an authentication procedure corresponding to the privacylevel in response to a user input and, based on authentication accordingto the authentication procedure, stopping displaying the replaced imageand displaying the first image.

According to various embodiments, the method may further includecontrolling a communication module 190 of the electronic device totransmit, based on the fact that the privacy level is a first privacylevel, a first authentication request signal, in response to the userinput, to a first external device (e.g., the electronic device 102, theelectronic device 104, or the server 108) associated with the at leastone object included in the first image and receive a firstauthentication signal from the first external device.

The electronic device according to various embodiments may be one ofvarious types of electronic devices. The electronic devices may include,for example, a portable communication device (e.g., a smartphone), acomputer device, a portable multimedia device, a portable medicaldevice, a camera, a wearable device, or a home appliance. According toan embodiment of the disclosure, the electronic devices are not limitedto those described above.

It should be appreciated that various embodiments of the presentdisclosure and the terms used therein are not intended to limit thetechnological features set forth herein to particular embodiments andinclude various changes, equivalents, or replacements for acorresponding embodiment. With regard to the description of thedrawings, similar reference numerals may be used to refer to similar orrelated elements. It is to be understood that a singular form of a nouncorresponding to an item may include one or more of the things, unlessthe relevant context clearly indicates otherwise. As used herein, eachof such phrases as “A or B,” “at least one of A and B,” “at least one ofA or B,” “A, B, or C,” “at least one of A, B, and C,” and “at least oneof A, B, or C,” may include any one of, or all possible combinations ofthe items enumerated together in a corresponding one of the phrases. Asused herein, such terms as “1st” and “2nd,” or “first” and “second” maybe used to simply distinguish a corresponding component from another,and does not limit the components in other aspect (e.g., importance ororder). It is to be understood that if an element (e.g., a firstelement) is referred to, with or without the term “operatively” or“communicatively”, as “coupled with,” “coupled to,” “connected with,” or“connected to” another element (e.g., a second element), it means thatthe element may be coupled with the other element directly (e.g.,wiredly), wirelessly, or via a third element.

As used in connection with various embodiments of the disclosure, theterm “module” may include a unit implemented in hardware, software, orfirmware, and may interchangeably be used with other terms, for example,“logic,” “logic block,” “part,” or “circuitry”. A module may be a singleintegral component, or a minimum unit or part thereof, adapted toperform one or more functions. For example, according to an embodiment,the module may be implemented in a form of an application-specificintegrated circuit (ASIC).

Various embodiments as set forth herein may be implemented as software(e.g., the program 140) including one or more instructions that arestored in a storage medium (e.g., internal memory 136 or external memory138) that is readable by a machine (e.g., the electronic device 101).For example, a processor (e.g., the processor 120) of the machine (e.g.,the electronic device 101) may invoke at least one of the one or moreinstructions stored in the storage medium, and execute it, with orwithout using one or more other components under the control of theprocessor. This allows the machine to be operated to perform at leastone function according to the at least one instruction invoked. The oneor more instructions may include a code generated by a complier or acode executable by an interpreter. The machine-readable storage mediummay be provided in the form of a non-transitory storage medium. Wherein,the term “non-transitory” simply means that the storage medium is atangible device, and does not include a signal (e.g., an electromagneticwave), but this term does not differentiate between where data issemi-permanently stored in the storage medium and where the data istemporarily stored in the storage medium.

According to an embodiment, a method according to various embodiments ofthe disclosure may be included and provided in a computer programproduct. The computer program product may be traded as a product betweena seller and a buyer. The computer program product may be distributed inthe form of a machine-readable storage medium (e.g., compact disc readonly memory (CD-ROM)), or be distributed (e.g., downloaded or uploaded)online via an application store (e.g., PlayStore™), or between two userdevices (e.g., smart phones) directly. If distributed online, at leastpart of the computer program product may be temporarily generated or atleast temporarily stored in the machine-readable storage medium, such asmemory of the manufacturer's server, a server of the application store,or a relay server.

According to various embodiments, each component (e.g., a module or aprogram) of the above-described components may include a single entityor multiple entities, and some of the multiple entities may beseparately disposed in different components. According to variousembodiments, one or more of the above-described components may beomitted, or one or more other components may be added. Alternatively oradditionally, a plurality of components (e.g., modules or programs) maybe integrated into a single component. In such a case, according tovarious embodiments, the integrated component may still perform one ormore functions of each of the plurality of components in the same orsimilar manner as they are performed by a corresponding one of theplurality of components before the integration. According to variousembodiments, operations performed by the module, the program, or anothercomponent may be carried out sequentially, in parallel, repeatedly, orheuristically, or one or more of the operations may be executed in adifferent order or omitted, or one or more other operations may beadded.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device comprising: a display; and aprocessor configured to: receive a display request for a plurality ofimages comprising a first image; identify at least one object includedin the first image; based on the at least one object comprising at leastone security object, determine a replaced image to replace the firstimage based on the at least one object included in the first image; andcontrol the display to display the replaced image corresponding to thefirst image together with at least one other image distinct from thefirst image, among the plurality of images, that does not include asecurity object.
 2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein todetermine the replaced image, the processor is configured to: determinea type of the first image, based on the at least one object included inthe first image; and determine a predetermined image from among aplurality of predetermined images, based on the type of the first image,wherein the replaced image is the predetermined image that isdetermined.
 3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the replacedimage includes at least one first area corresponding to at least aportion of the at least one security object in the first image that ismodulated.
 4. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the processor isconfigured to control the display to display the replaced image bydisplaying, on the at least one first area, at least one modulationobject produced based on the at least one security object.
 5. Theelectronic device of claim 4, wherein the processor is configured tocontrol the display to, based on reception of a touch input onto the atleast one first area, display a portion of the first image on an areacorresponding to the touch input and display a portion of the at leastone modulation object on a remaining area, excluding the areacorresponding to the touch input, among the at least one first area. 6.The electronic device of claim 1, wherein to display the replaced image,the processor is further configured to: identify state information ofthe electronic device; based on the state information indicating theelectronic device is in a first state, control the display to displaythe replaced image corresponding to the first image together with the atleast one other image; and based on the state information indicating theelectronic device is in a second state, control the display to displaythe first image together with the at least one other image.
 7. Theelectronic device of claim 6, wherein the state information indicates atleast one of whether or not the electronic device is located in aspecified place, whether or not the electronic device is connected to aspecified network, or whether or not the electronic device senses aspecified device.
 8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the stateinformation indicates whether or not the electronic device is located inthe specified place, whether or not the electronic device is connectedto the specified network, and whether or not the electronic devicesenses the specified device, and the processor is configured to:determine, when the electronic device is not located in the specifiedplace and is not connected to the specified network, the replaced imageas an image among a plurality of predetermined images predeterminedbased on a type of the first image according to the at least one object;and determine, when the electronic device is located in the specifiedplace and is not connected to the specified network, the replaced imageas an image in which at least one first area corresponding to at least aportion of the at least one security object in the first image ismodulated.
 9. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor isfurther configured to identify a privacy level of the first image, basedon the at least one object.
 10. The electronic device of claim 9,wherein the processor is further configured to: perform anauthentication procedure corresponding to the privacy level based on auser input; and control the display, based on an authenticationaccording to the authentication procedure, to stop displaying thereplaced image and display the first image.
 11. The electronic device ofclaim 10, further comprising a communication module, wherein theprocessor is further configured to control the communication module totransmit, based on the privacy level being a first privacy level, afirst authentication request signal corresponding to the user input, toa first external device associated with the at least one object includedin the first image, and receive a first authentication signal from thefirst external device.
 12. The electronic device of claim 10, whereinthe processor is configured to: perform the authentication procedurecorresponding to the privacy level based on the user input requestingexecution of total authentication for at least one image having a sameprivacy level as the privacy level of the first image; and control thedisplay, based on the authentication according to the authenticationprocedure, to stop displaying the replaced image corresponding to thefirst image and at least one replaced image corresponding to the atleast one image, and to display the first image and the at least oneimage.
 13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the processor isconfigured to identify the user input, based on a touch input to anauthentication object displayed on the display.
 14. A method ofoperating an electronic device, the method comprising: identifying adisplay request for a plurality of images comprising a first image;identifying at least one object included in the first image; based onthe at least one object comprising at least one security object,determining a replaced image to replace the first image based on the atleast one object included in the first image; and displaying, through adisplay of the electronic device, the replaced image corresponding tothe first image together with the at least one other image distinct fromthe first image, among the plurality of images, that does not comprisesa security object.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein determining thereplaced image comprises: determining a type of the first image, basedon the at least one object included in the first image; selecting animage from among a plurality of predetermined image, based on the typeof the first image; and determining the replaced image as the image thatis selected.
 16. The method of claim 14, wherein the replaced imageincludes at least one first area corresponding to at least a portion ofthe at least one security object in the first image that is modulated.17. The method of claim 16, wherein displaying the replaced imagecomprises displaying, on the at least one first area, at least onemodulation object produced based on the at least one security object.18. The method of claim 17, further comprising, based on reception of atouch input onto the at least one first area, displaying a portion ofthe first image on an area corresponding to the touch input anddisplaying a portion of the at least one modulation object on aremaining area, excluding the area corresponding to the touch input,among the at least one first area.
 19. The method of claim 14, furthercomprising identifying a privacy level of the first image, based on theat least one object.
 20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:performing an authentication procedure corresponding to the privacylevel based on a user input; and based on an authentication according tothe authentication procedure, stopping the displaying of the replacedimage and displaying the first image.